Silva: Each NFL team enters the offseason with a series of pressing needs. Sometimes a team can address them all, sometimes they ignore them all. But if a team's smart, they'll listen to us. These are the most crucial aspects for NFC teams.
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Ryan Callahan scored for the fifth time in four days and defenseman Ryan McDonagh snapped a second-period tie to lift the New York Rangers to a 3-2 victory over the Washington Capitals on Sunday.
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Arc's five up, five down: After No. 11 Michigan State's 58-48 upset of No. 3 Ohio State, you'd be a fool to discount the Spartans' national title chances now.
Miami coach Al Golden says the worst is behind him, but his headaches figure to continue now that former booster Nevin Shapiro, now in jail, says his involvement with the Hurricanes program will result in stiff penalties.
Golf's dream pairing - Woods and Mickelson - is on the course in the final round at Pebble Beach. Jason Sobel has hole-by-hole reports.
The United States completed a 5-0 rout of Switzerland in the Davis Cup on Sunday, with 19-year-old Ryan Harrison and John Isner winning closing singles matches.
Euro Roundup: First-place Manchester City won 1-0 at Aston Villa on Sunday on Joleon Lescott's goal in the 63rd minute, maintaining its two-point lead over Manchester United in the Premier League.
Tessa Worley of France fought off gusting winds to win a second consecutive World Cup giant slalom Sunday in the Andorran Pyrenees. Overall leader Lindsey Vonn was more than a second behind and finished eighth.
Robins: It’s the Year of the Dragon on the Lunar calendar, and this Chinese influence could extend to it also being the year of the Pekingese on the green carpet at the 136th Westminster Dog Show on Tuesday.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates - Roses in May was barely off the track after a second-place finish in the Breeders' Cup Classic last October when owners Kenneth and Sarah Ramsey and trainer Dale Romans decided on a goal for 2005.
They would to point Roses in May for the $6 million Dubai World Cup, the world's richest race.
So far, the plan is on track. Roses in May is favored to beat a field of international stakes winners on Saturday in the Dubai World Cup, including three challengers from the United States: Choctaw Nation, Congrats, and Lundy's Liability.
Romans has confidence in Roses in May, even though the horse has never won at 1 1/4 miles and was beaten by Saint Liam in his lone prep this year, a second in the Grade 1 Donn Handicap at Gulfstream Park on Feb. 5.
"I think he's an up-and-coming horse," Romans said. "He's on the improve. If he can only step forward a little bit. . ."
Roses in May, who arrived here from Florida in mid-March, looks outstanding physically. Monday, he worked five furlongs over the unique Nad Al Sheba course, which features a three-furlong stretch, longer by a furlong than any stretch in the U.S.
"We haven't had a bump in the road since we left Fort Lauderdale," Romans said.
A winner of 7 of 12 starts and $1,890,187, Roses in May, 5, has won only three stakes. His reputation has been built largely on a five-race winning streak last year, highlighted by a nose win over Perfect Drift in the Grade 1 Whitney Handicap at Saratoga in August.
In the Breeders' Cup, Roses in May finished three lengths behind Ghostzapper, the 2004 Horse of the Year. Pleasantly Perfect, the winner of the 2004 Dubai World Cup, was third.
The Breeders' Cup Classic was run over 1 1/4 miles, the same distance as the Dubai World Cup. In the Classic, Roses in May earned a career-high Beyer Speed Figure of 119.
"He's only run one 10-furlong race, and I thought it was the best race of his life," Romans said. "He got his highest speed figure. He caught a monster that day in Ghostzapper. It was circumstances that we didn't have longer races before the Breeders' Cup."
Romans said the loss in the Donn does not bother him.
"The Donn was a tough race," he said. "Saint Liam is a top-quality horse. I didn't squeeze the lemon dry to win the Donn."
Roses in May is as low as 3-2 with English bookmakers. "That makes me nervous," Romans said. "But I'd rather be that than 20-1."
The toughest competition comes from the fellow American travelers, one of whom had a tough time just getting here.
Lundy's Liability, trained by Bobby Frankel, arrived at Nad Al Sheba at 8 a.m. on Tuesday.
Lundy's Liability and the Frankel-trained Marenostrum, who will run in the $2 million UAE Derby on Saturday, were scheduled to arrive Monday evening, but were delayed 12 hours in Amsterdam because of a mechanical problem with the airplane.
They are not likely to train on the racetrack until Thursday, after routine blood tests are completed.
Lundy's Liability, who won the 2004 UAE Derby when trained by Michael de Kock, has won two major stakes at Santa Anita for Frankel in the last six months, including the San Antonio Handicap last month. He was fifth in the Santa Anita Handicap on March 5, a race in which Congrats was second.
De Kock has one of the leading local hopes in Yard-Arm, a four-time Group 1 stakes winner in South Africa last year. Yard-Arm most recently was fifth in his dirt debut March 5.
The rest of the probable starters for the World Cup include Adjudi Mitsuo, Dynever, Elmustanser, Grande Hombre, Jack Sullivan, King's Boy, and Ruler's Court.
The first of three pools of the Kentucky Derby Future Wager begins its three-day run on Friday and the bet's opening scenario is very similar to each of its opening pools since the wager was created in 1999.
It's first time that Classic will be broadcast in primetime on Nov. 3.
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Wesseling: Each NFL team enters the offseason with a series of pressing needs. Sometimes a team can address them all, sometimes they ignore them all. But if a team's smart, they'll listen to us. These are the most crucial aspects for AFC teams.
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Silva: Each NFL team enters the offseason with a series of pressing needs. Sometimes a team can address them all, sometimes they ignore them all. But if a team's smart, they'll listen to us. These are the most crucial aspects for NFC teams.